Open house to showcase pedestrian safety improvements

Map by SDOT.The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) wants you to know what’s in the works for the streets and sidewalks on North Beacon Hill. All interested neighbors are invited to a Project Open House at 6 p.m. at Beacon Hill International School, 2025 14th Ave. S.

Planned improvements include a new sidewalk on Beacon Avenue South, changes to the intersection at Beacon Avenue South and 14th Avenue South, curb bulbs at 14th and South College Street, and a new ramp on the Holgate overpass.

Construction of the improvements is scheduled to take place starting next summer.

I object to the southbound left/right turn only at 14th Ave and Beacon. How will people that live south and west 14th Ave and beacon get to their home when traveling from the north on 14th Ave? People that are forced to turn left at this intersection will increase congestion on the already congested traffic light intersection at 15th. The congestion at this intersection and along 15th Ave S will encourage more people to avoid the intersection of 15th and Beacon and this will increase right hand turn movements at the intersection of 14th and Beacon and people will be encouraged use 13th Avenue as the cut through street and to get into the neighborhood south/west of Beacon Ave. I object to this traffic revision.

The half road block/no left turn crosswalk “revision” SDOT just installed at Beacon and Hanford is an unmitigated disaster. No one pays any attention to the signs, the post in the center block keeps getting run over, drivers pull u-turns around it, and pedestrians don’t even use the crosswalk signal now, if they use the crosswalk at all.

What is so great about Beacon and Hanford that SDOT wants to do it again at 14th and Beacon? SDOT already admitted iin a post on this blog that it is not working at Hanford. Why do it again? This does not make any sense.

There was a poster at the meeting that showed some proposed improvements to 23rd and Rainier that wasn’t mentioned in the slideshow or discussion, does anyone have a link to more information about that? It look like mostly the addition of curb ramps in a lot of places, and some new sidewalk.